1. Scope
This policy explains when a ticket purchase can be refunded. It sits alongside our Terms & Conditions and Competition Rules. Nothing here removes your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 or the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013.
2. Entries are normally final
A competition entry is a service that begins immediately: as soon as your payment succeeds your ticket numbers are allocated and locked to you, which affects the odds for everyone else. For that reason the 14-day cancellation right for distance contracts does not apply once entry has been allocated, and entries cannot generally be cancelled, exchanged, transferred or refunded.
You will always be shown the ticket price, quantity, total, closing date and draw date before you pay, and you must confirm you are 18 or over and accept these terms.
3. When we will refund you
- Duplicate or failed charge. If you are charged twice for the same tickets, or charged without receiving tickets, we refund in full.
- Technical error. If a fault on our side allocated the wrong quantity, the wrong competition or the wrong price, we correct it and refund the difference or the whole amount.
- Cancelled competition. See section 4.
- Minimum ticket threshold not met. See section 5.
- Ineligible entrant. If you are under 18, outside the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), or self-excluded, your entries are void. Where the entry was made in good faith we refund the ticket price; where entry was obtained by giving false information we may void the entry without refund.
- Goodwill. If you contact us before the draw closes and before any instant win has been allocated to your numbers, we may refund at our discretion. This is not a right and we may decline.
Refunds go back to the original payment method through Stripe, normally within 5 to 10 working days. Refunded tickets are released back into the pool unless the draw has already taken place, in which case the entry is voided and cannot win.
4. If we cancel or change a competition
We may cancel or postpone a competition where there is a genuine reason to do so — for example a legal or regulatory requirement, a prize becoming unavailable, a payment or platform failure, evidence of fraud or manipulation, or an event outside our reasonable control.
- We notify every entrant by email and publish a notice on the competition page.
- Every paid entrant receives a full refund of the amount paid. We do not deduct fees.
- Alternatively we may offer entry into a replacement draw of equal or greater value; accepting is entirely your choice and refusing does not affect your refund.
- Free and postal entrants receive an equivalent free entry into the replacement draw.
- Instant wins already validly allocated before cancellation are honoured.
5. If a competition does not sell enough tickets
Every competition displays a minimum number of tickets required for the advertised prize to be awarded. If the closing date is reached and that minimum has not been met, we will do one of the following and tell you which before the draw date:
- extend the closing date once, by a stated period, and draw if the minimum is then met;
- run the draw and award a reduced cash prize calculated as the greater of 70% of net ticket revenue or the advertised cash alternative where one applies; or
- cancel the draw and refund every paid entrant in full under section 4.
We will never simply keep the money without drawing or refunding.
6. Prize substitution and cash alternatives
Where a prize becomes unavailable we may substitute an alternative of equal or greater value, or pay the stated cash alternative. Where a cash alternative is advertised, the winner may choose it instead of the physical prize. Choosing a cash alternative is not a refund and does not entitle you to a refund of the ticket price.
7. Unclaimed prizes
Winners have 90 days from first notification to claim. We contact the winner at least three times using the details on the account. If a prize remains unclaimed after that period the prize may be re-drawn among remaining valid entries or withdrawn. Ticket purchases are not refunded because a winner failed to claim.
8. Chargebacks
Please contact us before raising a chargeback — it is almost always quicker. Where a chargeback is raised we may suspend the account and void the related entries while the dispute is investigated, and we will provide the card issuer with the order, ticket allocation and acceptance records.
9. How to request a refund
Email payments@sobocompetitions.com with your order number, which you will find on your confirmation email and in your account. We acknowledge within 2 working days and decide within 14 days, explaining our reasoning. If you disagree, escalate it under our Complaints Policy.